access to free legal assistance with immigration proceedings. There is no independent National Human Rights Institution habilitated to receive and address complaints from children in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Additionally, there is no readily available information that might indicate the existence of trainings on child protection and the best interest of the child for staff and state officials involved in immigration proceedings. According to its National Report to the Universal Periodic Review in 2019, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has engaged in steps to improve access to health to its refugee population notably by extending its Social Security Insurance coverage. In 2019, the Government ensured that “All refugee children with disabilities have been covered by health insurance in cooperation with the office of UNHCR”. The Government also reported that “Iran has provided refugees and asylum seekers with appropriate extensive resources in the field of education, health care, livelihood, housing”. The Government stipulated that “disadvantaged refugee and immigrant children are under the cover of free welfare services”, and that the State provided “financial and executive support for humanitarian and promotional activities of the NGOs”. Additionally, and according to the aforementioned report, NGOs were “providing health, educational and livelihoods and other supports to displaced people”. However, there is no readily available information that might indicate the number of refugee and asylum-seeking children who have benefitted from such measures.10 Measures presented by the Government did not mention guardianship or access to free legal assistance with immigration proceedings. It is important to note that the Islamic Republic of Iran hosts one of the largest and most protracted urban refugee populations in the world, while international assistance has been limited and unilateral sanctions a significant economic burden. Regardless, however, the Iranian legal framework lacks protective safeguards vis-à-vis the rights of its asylum-seeking and refugee children. Additionally, the dearth of available, official and disaggregated data regarding the refugee and asylum-seeking population in the Islamic Republic of Iran makes it particularly difficult to assess precisely to what extent Governmental efforts have ensured that unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children are given guardianship, free legal assistance with immigration proceedings, and access to adequate shelter, food, health care and education. Consequently, assessments as to whether governmental measures have addressed the issues raised in the reports of human rights violations aforementioned are greatly hindered. It is also important to reiterate that refugee and asylum-seeking children lack access to a mechanism habilitated to receive complaints address them, notably with regards to violations of the rights of the child in immigration proceedings. Recommendation Status: This recommendation has been PARTIALLY implemented. 10 National Report, UPR 2019, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/WG.6/34/IRN/1 3